Garment bag



B. CORWIN Sept. 26, 1950 GARMENT BAG Filed July 12, 1946 INVENTOR ORNEY Patented Sept. 26, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Bernard Corwin, East Orange, N. J. Application July 12, 1946, Serial No. 683,255

' by means of which the garment bag is suspended from a closet pole or other'support.

While constructions such as those outlined above are reasonably satisfactory for a limited 7 period, they are subject to two recognized disadvantages. In the first place, they are rather flimsy and readily become distorted and unfit for use when subjected to the comparatively heavy weight of the fully loaded garment bag. In the second place, the wei ht of the garments tends to cause se aration of the hook base which is made as a split cylinder with the free edges abuttingly disposed along the central underside thereof.

It is, consequently, desired to overcome the foregoing and other defects of existing products, and it is with this dual problem that the present invention is concerned.

One of the objects of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of present garment bags and to provide a new and useful garment bag having unique features of construction.

Another object of the invention resides in a garment bag having a hanger member of light, strong construction resistant to distortion and bending under anticipated loading.

A further object of the invention is to provide a supporting hook base which will not separate or give way even when the garment bag is fully loaded.

Other and further features and advantages will be understood by those familiar with the con struction of garment bags, or will be set forth 2 Claims. (Cl. 312-3) Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the supporting hook base construction.

The structural features of the body of the earment bag may vary in many respects, the details of which per se form no part of or limitation upon the present invention.

In the garment bag selected for illustration, the body material It] forms a rectangular enclosure having a conventional hookless fastener or zipper II, the body material depending from and being supported by the rectangular wire frame l2. Hanger member I3 is relatively thin and light, butexceptionally strong and effective by virtue of its maner of construction. Instead of merely being constructed of bent wire, in accordance with prior practice, it has body portion M which is of sheet metal, stamped or otherwise suitably formed, in the configuration shown. In other words, body portion I4 is a thin metallic plate with openings l5, the lower edges of which are defined by sinuously curved arches so as to produce the conventional or any other desired number of-recesses 6 for the reception of the hooks ll of garment hangers l8. Being of sheet metal, aluminum is eminently suitable, and the hanger body portion is highly resistant to bending or distortion even under full loading. The webs M'serve to add strength as well as to prevent the piling up of all garment hangers at one end of the member 13 should it be tipped, as frequently occurs.

Body portion l4 merges with an upper tubular portion l9, through which extends wire 20 having loops or eyes 2| bent around the frame members 12, as illustrated. Tubular portion I9 is interrupted to provide spaces 22 and in these spaces are disposed the overlapped portions of the bases 23 of supporting hooks 24 which suspend the garment bag and contents from a closet pole or the like 25.

As will be noted from Fig. 4, each hook base is formed from an initially flat plate apertured in the center at 2B and havin a tongue-andgroove-like construction 21, 28 at its ends, tongue 21 preferably constituting one-third of the width of the plate end and groove 28 being of approximately the same extent. A hook 24 is passed through aperture 26 and the terminal enlargement 29 prevents disassembly. The flat plate is bent around toform a tubular hook base, but the interfitting of tongue 2! and groove 28 and the provision of the solid pieces contiguous to groove 28 on either side constitutes a firm and strong structure which does not tend to spread or separate under loading because the loaded member extends across and presses on tongue 21 and the said contiguous solid pieces, not against a pair of abutting longitudinal edges as in prior practice. Thus, the objects of the invention are simply and effectively accomplished, as will be appreciated.

It will be understood that the details may be varied without departing from the invention. The garment bag body material may be of any transparent, translucent or opaque material previously or now used or proposed for garment bags. The metallic members may be composed of any suitable or desired metal, alloy or composition having the requisite strength and other properties. The invention is rather that defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a garment bag havin a wire frame and a transverse wire across the top of said frame from which said frame is suspended, a hanger member supported from said wire, said hanger member having a plate-like body portion and a tubular portion merging with the body portion,

the wire extending through said tubular portion, said body portion being provided with a plurality of cut-outs, the lower edges of which are defined by sinuously curved arches forming recesses for garment hanger hooks to be supported in said garment bag.

2. A hanger member as set forth in claim 1, in which the tubular portion is interrupted by a support hook base which consists of a centrally apertured split tubular member embracing the transverse wire and having a tongue-andgroove-like construction defining the split.

BERNARD CORWIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 50,226 Croak Oct. 3, 1865 1,799,190 Wilson Apr. 7, 1931 2,116,197 Gersten May 3, 1938 2,330,207 England Sept. 28, 1943 2,395,210 Baril Feb. 19, 1946 2,408,344 Scurrah Sept. 24, 1946 

